MicroHorror

Whenever I come into her room and she’s not asleep, my baby squeals, sits up in her crib and reaches out with her little arms, fingers grasping, in the hope that I’ll pick her up and play with her. And of course, I do. What I can I say? She’s Daddy’s girl. And all I have left of her mother.

It seems like only yesterday that I met Ezter. I was sitting at my usual table at the coffee house, when this stunning brunette asks if she can sit with me. I stammered out my consent.

Ezter’s lovely brown eyes sparkled like fine amber. Her dark hair flowed down in waves and caressed her bare shoulders. She spoke with an accent, but her English was perfect. She told me she was Hungarian. I knew it–she had that Slavic beauty. Ezter was born in Visegrad, a village on the Danube that was the capital of Hungary in medieval times. As a little girl, she and her family moved up into the nearby Pilis Mountains, where she and her brothers and sisters loved to roam.

I told Ezter about myself: IS guy turned aspiring poet and writer publishes a few pieces and thinks he’s one of the literati, so he spends his empty nights in a coffee house listening to other wannabes read their works, hoping that one day, he’ll be on top of the New York Times bestseller list. I tried to be funny and charming, but not at the expense of honesty. I hate guys who lie to women. Of course, they get the girls and I don’t.

But Ezter seemed to like me. After the readings were over, she said she wanted to see me again. We exchanged phone numbers. One date turned into another and another. Then we became lovers. Ezter was the first woman to really make love to me. And she taught me how to make love to her.

I had found the perfect girl, and I wasn’t about to lose her. So I asked her to marry me. Tears welled in her eyes. “You are the only man who ever truly loved me,” she said. Her other boyfriends always found fault with her and ended up dumping her. I couldn’t imagine why.

We were married for a couple years when I brought up the subject of children. Ezter confessed tearfully that she couldn’t get pregnant. I didn’t feel betrayed. I felt sorry for her. I did some research on adoption, but before I could approach Ezter about the subject, she threw her arms around me and told me we were going to have a baby. It was like a miracle.

Ezter’s pregnancy and childbirth couldn’t have been more normal. Anna was born perfectly healthy. She looked so much like her mommy. Who could have imagined that Ezter would be dead barely a year after bringing Anna into the world? She had been enjoying one of her nightly runs when a hunter’s bullet ended her life. The redneck was so drunk that he’d accidentally loaded his rifle with the silver bullet he’d won in a marksmanship contest.

If it weren’t for Anna, I don’t know how I’d have gotten through the funeral. I don’t know how I’d have been able to get up every morning. I need her as much as she needs me. That reminds me, it’s getting dark, and the moon will be full tonight. It’s time to put Anna to bed and keep her safe. Since she’s starting to eat finger foods, I usually give her some little bits of raw hamburger after she’s gone through the change. She loves it. She gobbles it up, licks her paws, and squeals with delight.

Kids grow up so fast. Soon, she’ll be able to control the change as easily as she can use the toilet.

But no matter how old she is, she’ll always be Daddy’s girl.